Garment hangers



March 24, 1970 R. L. HART GARMENT HANGERS IIG I IZ'NTOR. ROBERT L HART 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 13, 1968 ATTORNEYS I March 24, 1970 R. L. HART ,2

GARMENT HANGERS Filed Sept. 13, 1968 2. Sheets-Sheet 2 F/G.5 32 Z, g A 50 1 H i 22 J, 27 M INVENTOR. ROBERT L. HART ga m $.44...- /W 5m ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,502,251 GARMENT HANGERS Robert L. Hart, Manhasset Hill, N.Y. Packaging Development CorporatiomDesign Workshop Inc., 235 E.

45th St., New York, N.Y. 10017) Filed Sept. 13, 1968, Ser. No. 759,556 Int. Cl. A41j 51/08 U.S. Cl. 223-96 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A unitarily molded plastic garment hanger includes two vertically aligned suspension hooks. A smaller of the two hooks is positioned above the other conventional size hook. A horizontal bar is suspended at its midpoint from a neck to the upper end of which the hooks are connected and rectangular closed loops are positioned on opposite ends of the bar. Two resilient clips mutually oifset axially of the bar have their tips extend in opposite directions through the loop. The clips depend from the upper edges of the loops, the suspension points being appreciably higher than the bar so that the bar and major parts of the loops are concealed within the upper end of a suspended garment. The front and back layers of the open upper end of the garment are caught between the opposing clips and the side edges of the loops. A post projects forwardly from the neck to support another hanger.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention A hanger with clip means for suspending a garment.

Description of the prior art It has been proposed heretofore to provide a plastic hanger having clips for suspending articles of clothing. These prior hangers were unitarily molded of synthetic plastic and generally consisted of a hook supporting a horizontal bar or shank with three laterally offset members depending at the ends of the shank. The depending members had opposed free ends over which the waistband of a garment could be forced. Once wedged between these members the garment hung freely.

Among the disadvantages of the prior art devices was the fact that although designed for display rack purposes, the dependent members and shank covered considerable portions of the garments, concealing the garments lines, patterns, and/or fabric design from the customers eye. At least one side of the hanger had two gripping members extending downwardly from the waistband and covering portions of the garment. In some instances these gripping members would be connected at their lower ends by a member (as shown in Design Patent 190,843) which concealed additional portions of the garment from view. Additionally, the shank was exposed in front of the garment waistband, and tended to distract attention from the displayed garment and impair the customers ability to visualize the wearing appearance of the garment.

Further difficulties experienced in the prior art devices included the fact that heavy garments could not be supported by the existing clip means as their weight would overcome the frictional grip of the depending members.

Lastly, these prior devices did not permit simple chaining of hangers, wherein one hanger was suspended from the hanger above, thus saving rack space and displaying garments in an appealing manner. Previous chaining arrangements involved complex structures that were expensive to mold and difficult to assemble.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a garment hanger of the foregoing general character which 3,502,251 Patented Mar. 24, 1970 'ice is so constructed that it is not subject to any of the foregoing drawbacks.

More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a hanger of the character described which is simple and rugged in construction and easy to use, and yet can be fabricated by mass production methods.

It is another object of the invention to provide a hanger of the character described wherein like hangers may be simply suspended from projecting portions of preceding hangers to form a chain of hangers.

It is another object of the invention to provide a hanger of the character described wherein a minimal portion of a garment waistband is concealed by the hanger.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger of the character described wherein the suspended garment conceals a major portion of the hanger structure.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger of the character described wherein the hanger may be selectively suspended from any one of a plurality of hooks, each adapted for maximum hanger stability with respect to the diameters of selected supports.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a hanger of the character described wherein a garment is suspended in an improved manner, more securely than known heretofore.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel method of suspending a garment for display purposes.

Other objects of the invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, arrangements of parts, and series of steps hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings in which are shown various possible embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a hanger constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of the hanger, and showing in dot-and-dash lines the bar from which it is supported;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view through said hanger, the same being taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view through said hanger, the same being taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 and showing in dot-and-dash lines the position of the fabric of a garment suspended from said hanger;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view through said hanger taken along the line 55 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through said hanger taken along the line 6--6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 7--7 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a chain of hangers embodying the present invention with portions broken away and wherein one hanger is suspended from a post on the hanger above;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary front view of a hanger embodying an alternate embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line 1010 of FIG. 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 denotes a hanger which embodies the present invention. Said hanger is composed of an upper section 12 and a neck section 14 joining the upper section 12 to a horizontal section 16, the ends of which terminate in loop sections 18 and 20. The entire structure is unitarily molded of any suitable synthetic elastomeric plastic in a basically planar configuration and has a web thickness of approximately 0.05. To provide sufficient rigidity and strength, an integral flange 22 surrounds the periphery of the hanger 10. At the flange, the thickness of the hanger increases to approximately 0.12" (as seen in FIGS. 3 through 7).

The upper section 12 has the general outline of a conventional clothes hanger with a hook 24 having an arcuate downwardly concave section 26 of a diameter of approximately 1%" which is appropriate for the ordinary hanger bar (shown in dot and dash lines in FIG. 2).

The arcuate section 26 of the hook 24 opens to an inclined throat section 28, permitting easy entrance of said hook 24 onto a hanger bar. As the entire peripheral edge of the hanger is reinforced by the flange 22, the arcuate portion of the section 26 which bears against the hanger bar is reinforced at the point of contact 27 with said bar.

Spaced above the arcuate section 24, a second arcuately shaped downwardly concave small hook section 30 is unitarily formed. The second hook section 30 is entirely formed within the thickened peripheral flange portion 22 which is widened at the region of said second hook 30 to accommodate the same. The hook s ction 30 is formed as an undercut in the top area 32 of the upper section 12. The removed area, forming the under hook section 30, begins at the forward upper corner of the upper section 12 (as viewed in FIG. 2) and then moves downwardly and rearwardly to a low point 34 and thence upwardly first rearwardly and then forwardly to form an undercut nib 36. The nib 36 has a width of approximately 0.35". The high point of the removed area is the hook seat 40. The seat 40 has an arcuately curved downwardly concave end wall 41 of a diameter of approximately The centers of said arcuate curve of said end wall 41 and of said arcuate section 26 lie in the same vertical line A (as viewed in FIG. 2) which additionally passes through the center of gravity of said hanger 10. Thus the hanger 10' will hang in the same attitude when suspended from either hook.

At the juncture between the upper section 12 and the neck section 14 a support member 42 projects forwardly in a direction normal to the hanger as seen in FIGS 2 and 7. The support member 42 consists of a cylindrical post 44 projecting forwardly from the hanger at the upper end of the neck section 14. The post 44 is approximately 4" in diameter and 0.30" in length. The center of said post 44 lies in the vertical line A, which passes through the centers of hooks 24, 30, and the center of gravity of the hangers.

A second cylindrical post 46 spaced laterally and upwardly from post 44 (as viewed in FIG. 2) projects from the upper'portion 12 of the hanger in the same direction as the post 44 and is of the same length. The second post 46 is, however, of a smaller diameter (approximately 0.15") than the first post 44. The two posts 44, 46 are joined together at their ends by a transverse section 47 to form a bail in order to stabilize the post 44 and provide an enlarged head for the same. The edges of the transverse section 47 taper to form a smooth transition between the diameters of the posts 44 and 46. The first and second posts are spaced from each other a distance of approximately 0.6" suflicient to admit the small hook 30.

Thus, with one hanger 10 suspended from a hanger bar, successive hangers 10 can be suspended from successive posts 44 by inserting the upper hooks 30 of each successive hanger between the posts 44 and 46 of the support member 42 of the hanger above, as illustrated in FIG. 8. Hence, a chain of hangers 10 may be suspended from a single hanger 10. It may be noted that the width (0.35") and thickness (0.12") of the nib section 36 per mits insertion of the nib 36 between the posts 44 and 46 while the diameter of the seat 40 is greater than that of supporting post 44 (0.25") so that the seat 40 will easily engage the support post 44.

FIGS. 9 and 10 are illustrative of alternate embodiment of the support member. In this embodiment, support member 42a projects forwardly in a direction normal to the hanger as seen in FIG. 9. The support member 42a consists of a cylindrical post 44a projecting forwardly from the central portion of the hanger at the same location as the post 44 of the preferred embodiment.

The dimensions of the post 44a are approximately the same as that of post 44. The post 46 has been omitted in this embodiment, and, therefore, the transverse section 47a is a cantilever section having a free end 47b. The transverse section 47a thus serves as a guide or stop tip, preventing the hook of a dependent hanger from sliding off the end of the post 44a.

As will be readily observable to one of ordinary skill in the art, any enlargement or crown at the end of the post 44a will suflice to perform the same function of retaining a dependent hanger hook.

With the embodiment of FIGS. 910 it may be noted that if successive hangers 10 are chained by suspending one from the post of a preceding superior hanger 10, either the small upper hook 30 or the large hook 24 may engage the post 44a as the portion of the hanger above the hook 24 will not prevent the engagement of the hook 24 with the post 44a.

Reverting again to FIGS. l-8 the lower end of the neck section 14 joins the horizontal section 16 at its center. Closed rectangular loop sections 18 and 20 are formed at the opposite ends of the horizontal section 16. The centers of the areas of juncture between the loop sections 18, 20 and the horizontal section 16 are at or below the midpoints of the heights of the loop sections. Additionally, the height of the horizontal section, as viewed from FIG. 2, is such that approximately the top /3 of the height of the rectangular loop sections (as viewed in FIG. 2) projects freely above the elevation of the horizontal section.

A resilient clip 48 is dependent from the forward edge 23 (as viewed in FIG. 2) of the peripheral flange on the uppermost portion of the loop 20 and offset longitudinally of the length of the horizontal section from the center of said loop. The interior edges of the loop are surrounded by a peripheral flange 50. The clip 48 extends forwardly (as viewed in FIG. 2) of the body of the hanger 10 and thence downwardly and parallel to the vertical columns 47 and 49 of the loop 20 approximately 2.5" to a shoulder 51 at which point it extends transversely toward and behind the rear face of the hanger 10 (see FIG. 3) forming a transverse abutment, i.e. seat, 52. The abutment 52 forms the closed top of a depending U-shaped channel 54 the side walls 55 of which extend from the front end of the abutment to the rear end of said abutment 52 and thence downwardly a distance of approximately 0.5" at which point the back wall 56 terminates and a bottom wall 58 tapers from said back wall 56 downwardly (as seen in FIG. 3) and forwardly (as viewed in FIG. 2) to the free end point 60 of said clip 48. A protrusion is thus formed at the lower portion of the clip 48.

An additional clip 62 is dependent from the rear edge (as viewed in FIG. 2) of the peripheral flange 22 on the upper edge portion of loop 20 and spaced laterally from the clip 48.

The clip 62 is identical in structure to the clip 48 and includes a U-shaped channel 64, a back wall 66, side walls 67, a tapered bottom wall 68 and a free end 70. The clip 62 extends down the rear face of the hanger with the U-shaped channel 64 projecting forwardly as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 4. The clips 48 and 62 are equidistantly spaced (approximately 0.10") from one another and from the vertical end columns 47' and 49 of the loop 20.

To provide an additional grip, the back walls 56 and 66 of the clips 48 and 62 are transversely ribbed on their exterior surfaces facing the respective halves of the waistband.

The loop section 18 is joined to the horizontal section 16 at the end opposite the loop section 20. This section is the mirror image of the loop section 20 with its associated clips 48 and 62, so that both loops are symmetrical about the vertical line A running through the center of gravity of the hanger 10.

To suspend a skirt, for instance, from the hanger 10, the waistband is placed around the both loops 18 and 20 so that it completely surrounds the lower portions of the loops (see FIG. 1). The front half 72 of the waistband (see FIG. 4) is pulled upwardlyand slides along the tapered bottom wall 58 of the resilient clip 48 of the loop 18, and is wedged between the outer side wall 55 and the interior peripheral flange 50 of the column 47.

The rear half 74 of the waistband is pulled upwardly and slides along the tapered bottom wall 68 of the resilient clip 62 and is wedged between the outer side wall 67 and the interior peripheral flange 50 of the column 49.

Both the front half 72 and the rear half 74 of the Waistband are wedged between the opposing inner side walls 55 and 67 of the clips 48 and 62. The garment is thus held by being wedged at three positions within each loop. In addition the lower edge of the thickened portion of the waistband seats on the abutments 52.

When the waistband is pulled to itsuppermost position, the horizontal section 16 is completely concealed within the garment as is a major portion of the loop 18 o that the visible securing means is one clip from each side of the garment. Additionally, the top edge of the loop will be visible.

The identical steps are repeated as the waistband is pulled over the opposite loop 20.

Each of the sections 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 together with all of their parts are unitarily molded of one-piece construction from a synthetic elastomeric plastic. Typical plastics suitable for such application are: a butadiene (15%) modified styrene (85%) copolymer, polypropylene, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. The resilient clips 48, 62 are made thin enough, e.g., 0.05" to be flexible so that the garment fabric may be inserted yet maintain sulficient elasticity to resiliently grip the fabric.

Thus it will be seen that there have been provided garment hangers and a method of using the same which achieve the various objects of the invention and which are well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the present invention and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the present invention, there is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent:

1. A hanger adapted to display various articles of wearing apparel, said hanger having a hook portion adapted to be positioned upon a supporting element, a neck portion depending from saidhook portion and an article supporting section, said neck portion interconnecting said hook portionand said article supporting section, said article supporting section projecting laterally from opposite sides of said neck portion, said article supporting section including article holding means, said article holding means lying in a plane, said neck portion having a support member for suspending like hangers by their hook portions to form a chain of hangers, said support member including a post projecting in a front-to-back direction outwardly from said plane, said article holding means comprising two columns at each end of said article supporting section, each of said columns lying within said plane, said columns defining a space therebetween at each end of said section, two clips depending from said section at each end thereof, each clip having a free end and a portion projecting through said space, said portions projecting in opposite directions, said clips being mutually laterally offset axially of the length of said article supporting section. V

2. A unitarily molded elastomeric plastic hanger adapted to suspend and display skirts and other garments having an open end such as a waistband, said hanger having a body including a hook portion to be positioned upon a supporting element, a neck portion depending from said hook portion and a garment supporting section projecting laterally from opposite sides of said hook portion, garment holding means comprising a pair of columns connected to the opposite ends of said section, each of the columns of said pairs lying within a single plane and defining an open space therebetween at each end of said section, said columns having front and rear faces, said front face lying to one side of said plane, said rear face lying to the opposite side of said plane, two clips depending from said section at each end thereof, one of said clips being formed integrally with said front face and having a portion projecting through said space toward said rear face, the other of said clips being formed integrally with said rear face and having a portion projecting through said space toward said front face, said clips being mutually laterally offset axially of the length of said garment supporting section.

3. The unitarily molded plastic hanger of claim 2 wherein lateral members are included, the columns of the pairs of columns being connected at their respective bottom ends by said lateral members.

4. A hanger adapted to suspend and display articles of wearing apparel such as skirts and other garments having an open end such as a waistband, said hanger having a body including a hook portion, said hook portion being adapted to be positioned upon a hanger supporting element, a neck portion, said neck portion depending from said hook portion and a garment supporting section, said garment supporting section projecting laterally from opposite sides of said hook portion, said garment supporting section including article holding means, said article holding means comprising two columns at each end of said article supporting section, all of said columns lying within a single plane, said columns defining a space therebetween at each end of said section, two clips depending from said section at each end thereof, each clip having a free end and a portion projecting through said plane, said portions projecting in opposite directions, said clips being mutually laterally offset axially of the length of said article supporting section.

5. A hanger constructed in accordance with claim 4 wherein lateral members are included, the columns at each end of the article supporting section being connected at their respective bottoms by said lateral members.

6. A hanger constructed in accordance with claim 4 wherein the columns at each end of the article supporting section have front and rear faces, the front faces lying to one side of the plane and the rear faces lying to the opposite side of the plane, one of the clips at each end of the article supporting section being integrally formed with the front faces, the portions of the clips projecting toward the rear faces, the other of the clips at each end of the article supporting section being integrally formed with the rear faces, the portions of the other clips projecting toward the front faces.

7. A hanger constructed in accordance with claim 4 wherein the end columns are integrally formed with the article supporting section beyond the ends thereof, the article supporting section having an upper edge, the columns extending perpendicularly to the length of the article supporting section from an elevation above said upper edge.

8. A hanger constructed in accordance with claim 4 wherein the end columns are integrally formed with the article supporting section beyond the ends thereof, the article supporting section having an upper edge, the columns depending from the article supporting section at an elevation above said upper edge.

9. A hanger adapted to suspend various garments as well as successive hangers thereby forming a vertical chain of hangers, said hanger having a body including arcuate hook means, said hook means being adapted to be positioned upon a hanger support element, a neck portion depending from said hook means, and an article supporting section, said neck portion interconnecting said hook means and said article supporting section, said article supporting section projecting laterally from opposite sides of said neck portion, said body being substantially disposed within a plane, said article supporting section including article holding means, said neck portion having a first post, said first post projecting in a front-to-back direction outwardly from said plane, said first post lying wtihin a substantially vertical line passing through the arc center of said arcuate hook means when said hanger is suspended from the support, a second post, said second post projecting in a front-to-back direction outwardly from said plane, said second post being positioned above said first post and below said hook means, said posts being of lengths longer than the thickness of the arcuate hook means of a like hanger, said posts being spaced from one another a distance greater than the width of the hook means of a like hanger, a transverse section, said transverse section interconnecting the ends of said posts to form a reinforced bail which bears the weight of successive like hangers supported therefrom, said transverse section being adapted to retain the hook means of a like hanger suspended from said first post and preventing the same from accidentally disengaging from said first post, whereby a like hanger may be suspended from preceding hangers to form a vertical chain by engaging the hook means of successive hangers from the first posts of preceding hangers.

10. A hanger constructed in accordance with claim 9 wherein the second post is spaced from the substantially vertical line passing through the arc center of the arcuate hook means, said second post thereby being laterally offset from the first post whereby the engagement between the first post and the hook means of successive like hangers is facilitated by minimizing the interference between the upper tip of the hook means of the successive hanger and the second post as the successive hanger engages the first post.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,111,772 3/1938 Guillot 22388 2,151,964 3/1939 Gay.

2,499,188 2/1950 Freeman 2l1-113 2,629,575 2/1953 Loyot et a1 248-215 XR 3,165,245 1/1965 Levine et a1. 223-91 3,225,978 12/1965 Wach 22391 3,344,966 10/1967 Schaefer 22396 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner GEORGE H. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner 

